Director-General, Department of Health v State Public Services Federation Queensland Union of Employees and Others [1993] QIRC 36 (1993) 142 QGIG 350

350 QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE [ 19 March, 1993 #########ll###ll#Jf#IUJf,' IJ!t#fJ #Of1i#;f;l1f/M#ll###########f:lrilfit'#N####II## QUEENSLAND I NDUSTR I AL RE LA TIONS COMM ISS ION Industrial Relations A et /990-1991 s. I 0.12 - resci ssion and new aw a rd Director-General, Dep artment of Health AND State Publi c Services Federation Queensl and Union of E mployees and Others (No. B296 of 1992) REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITIES EMPLOYEES' AWARD -S TATE C OM MISSIONER F ISHE R 5 March 1993 Cost Imposts - Awacd Rationalisat ion Rescission and New Award - Dental Classifications - New Award to Ope rate from 1 March 1993. REPO RT ON DECISION (edited and expan d ed) In giving her decision from the B en ch on 24 February 1993, Commis sioner Fish er s aid :- " On Friday 19 February 1993 the Co m mission raised certain matte rs of concern with the parties : these concerns h ave now been addressed by the applicant this morning and the responses given have bee n fully agreed to by the remai ning pa rt ies. A lthough it $eems that there are some cost imposts resulting from the implementation of the document, both the Crown and Health have indi cated these are acceptable, and further, that some will be offset by award rationalisation. Th e Commission accepts in good faith the assurances given by the parties regarding the implementation of the award and the treatment o f reserved matters . I am satisfi ed that the proposed new Award is consist ent with the Commission's wage principl es. I furt her bel ieve it is an historic document and one which ushers in a new era of industrial regulation into pub) ic sector health in this State. I would again co ngrat ulate the parties on the ir achievement. The applicat ion made by the Crown seeks a variation to the Regiona l Health Authorities Employees ' Interim A ward - State and was made prior to su b stantive negotiations tak i ng place between the parties. The significant progress made in ne gotiations (reported on a r egular basis to the Comm ission) led to the creation of a totally n ew award . A minimal number of items remain outstan d ing; how ever, it should be not ed that these are of significance. It seems inappropriate to me to simply vary the Award given the extent and nature of the amendments sought. The Commi ssion is not. of course, bound by any specific relief sought by a party (s. 4.13(3)) of the Industrial Relations A et 1990. .I therefore delermine to make a new Award entitled 'Regional Health Authorities Employees' Award - State'. As a result of this decision I m ust t herefore formally refuse the Crown's application . In a ccordan ce with s. I 0.12( I) of the Act, the e xi sting Regional H ealth Authorities E mployees ' Interim Award - - State shall be rescin ded on commencement of the substituted new Award now made . Th e new Award shall be made in the fo nn of Exhibit 15 , as amended by Mr Ahem Inst Friday, and with the amendmen ts concerning stre am allocations mentio ne d this morni ng. The two othe r applications concerning uniform allowances, wh ich we re joine d w ith the major award application, are also granted. This will, as I understand it, cause a consequential ame ndm e nt to be m ade to Exhibit 15 . The operat ive date for the ne w Award will be I March 1993. The State Public Services Federation Queenslan d Un ion of Employees (SPSF) and The Federated Miscellaneous Workers Uni on of Austral ia, Queens land Branch, Union of Employees (FMWU) sought, through this current app lica tion, to deal with t wo dental officer positions, viz. senior tutor dental officers and senior dental offic ers which were inadvertent ly excluded from Case No. R8-5 o f 1992. In that matter, a Full Bench a pproved the translation of dental oflicer posi ti ons found in the schoo l denta l service and hos pital dental service to a separate salary scale. D uring the course of the current proceedings, t he U nions concern ed informed the Commission that the two dental classifications mentioned above were absent fr o m the original applicati on and requested the Commission , as currently constituted, t o rectify the error. The Unions ad vised that the two classifications had been translated to the new scale by administrative arrangement with the same operat ive date as applying to the remaining classifications. As a result, no costs were involved with the claim. The Crown's position was that it was a matter for the Commissio n to determine. The Commission , as currently constituted , h ad some d ifficulty with the request made by the Unions g iven the original determination was made by a Full Bench . On that basis, the Commiss ion sought the matt er be referred to a full Bench. This approval was su bsequently given but referred bac k to me to finalise within the context of this claim. Concerns were ex pressed during the hearing to the Unions over what could be term ed ns 'no e>.1 ra clai m s' und ertakings given by them in the earlier Fu ll Bench hearing. Having considered the rele vant issues, I am sat isfied that a genuine error was made and should now be rectified. Accor dingly , the translations as proposed are ap proved. In closing, I trust that the good efforts of the parties in reaching the position of a single award for Regiona l Health Authority employees con ti nues for the re maining matters.". D ated this fifth day of March, 1993. By the Co mm iss ion , [L.S.] M.J . CA LL EN, Industrial Registrar. Appearances:- Mr J. Ahem , Ms M. Mc Ginily, Mr N. Holcombe and Mr J. Frazer, with them Mr P. Frew , Mr B. Hayward and Mr L. Cum berland, for the Crown on behal f of the Directo r-Ge neral, Department of Health. 19 March. 1993] QUEENSLAND GOVERN MENT INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE Ms S. Ca ddie and Mr J. Cherry for the Queensland Professional Officers' Association "Union of Employees" (n ow Sta te Publ ic Services Fed erati on Q ueensland Union of Employees (SPSF)) an d the Trades a nd Labor Council of Queensland. Mr B. Mann for The Q ueensland State Service Union of Empl oyees (now State Public Services Federation Queensland Un ion of Em pl oyees (SPSF)). Ms G. Grace for the Trades and Labor Council of Que ensland (T LC). Mr J. Martin. Mr R. Monaghan and Mr J. Spriggs for The Federated Misce llaneous Wo rkers Uni on of Australia, Qu eensland Branch, Un ion of Employees (FMWU). Mr N. Timo and Mr D. Jeffery for The Australian Wo rk ers' Union of Emp l oyee s, Queensland (A WU) . Mr P. Eld on and Mr H. Lawrence for the F ederated Clerks' Union of Australia (Cen tral and Southern Queensland Brnncb) Un ion of Employees (FCU). Operat ive Date: I March 1993 Report on D ec ision - Rescission and New Award Released: 10 March 1993 ############ 4• U,'!J#i '!##lilt '.f '.'. '.'. '.'ft ####IHl#######Jt########II####### 7'351 -- 1 of 1 --